My early, earlies will be the usual: Bloody Butcher & Kimberley with the golden cherry hybrids. Once again, I'm trying for some larger varieties with some productivity and earliness. I've grown Thessaloniki for quite a few years and don't see that as too much of an early variety - earlier than some. I am surprised that it was just a few days behind Early Girl for Taboule there in Massachusetts. It comes in only the last couple of weeks of my season here. Posted by seysonn ". . . I would like to know which one, in your list, will be your first one to harvest. I will also post mine. I will probably open a new thread then , like : First Harvest, by Zone and Variety: This way we can benefit from each others experience. But that is long way away. . . " Seysonn, I also will be interested how this comes out. I don't think you are going to be very competitive there in Heat Zone 1 with other USDA zone 7 gardeners. The hoophouse should really help but I doubt that you are thinking of this as a competition. In the '60's, I was gardening on the coast of northern California. I don't know my heat zones - maybe still zone 1? Anyway, the lack of summer warmth and the many days of overcast skies were only barely compensated for by the long growing season. Maybe gardening is a good patience-building experience everywhere. Steve

It's gonna be a little larger certainly than 'Tumbler' or certainly a 'Tiny Tom' but 'Smarty' is a short stature indeterminate grape type with a higher sugar content. It is gonna taste much better than previous ones listed. It is available through Stokes Seed.

I'm going to keep the pointy end heading the same (sorry, that's boater's venacular) for a minute. Americans desire for "perfect" looking food is also partly what's driving the heavy use of pesticides & herbicides. Americans are consumed with "looks" over substance. Farmers use more & more 'cides to create prettier products. They plant seeds that ship easier & stay looking pretty over those that taste good and, maybe, even offer better nutrition. Sure, there are also economical benefits to the 'cides mass agri-business uses such as more product per acre but we can't lay ALL THE BLAME of those awful strawberries on them. We want inexpensive, plentiful, & pretty food but we, in general, are unwilling to pay for the quality we expect. It's a vicious cycle. We decide we're going to eat local & organic. So, off we go to the farmer's market. Hmmm, the organic apple doesn't look pretty & is smaller than the apples at the other non-organic stand plus it's half the price. Which do we purchase? Pretty? Healthy? We each choose. My two local grocery stores do not offer bruised produce. It is thrown away in black bags as shown in the video. Heck, here there's not even a "mark down" meat section like I've read others describe here on the forum. If it's pulled from the shelves - it's trash, period. We live with the sea every day. We are long distance, deep water boaters. We are fisherman. It's ridiculous to say that a lobster MUST be alive at the time of cooking to be safe to eat. But, since most Americans do not have much hands-on experience with seafood...it's good advice to follow. Lobster spoils very rapidly after death & the ensuing bacteria build-up can make you ill. But, I assure you, if something goes wrong in emptying one of our traps & a lobster dies - we do not feed it to the gulls. We'd be rightly laughed out of town if we suggested such a thing. That's waste - pure & simple. But, when I lived in Denver there was no way I'd purchase a dead lobster because I had no personal way of knowing when death occured. In general, IMO, a lobster's good for a day properly refrigerated. Some will still cook at two days but I've got a compromised immune system so am persnickity. If a fresh fish smells like ammonia it's probably starting to rot. As with most things, there are exceptions. (Skate being one.) But, again, it's good general practice to not eat fish that's starting to smell of ammonia. Should smell slightly briney, like the sea. If DH brought home fish yesterday, or the day before, & it had a slight aroma - would I still cook it? Yes, & I'd do as John has suggested - wash it in lemon juice. It's surface bacteria. BUT, I know exactly when, where, etc. that fish was caught, how it was cleaned, how it was held, & how it was stored. Makes a big difference. And I still say that everybody that owns a home should have a compost pile to avoid waste even if the resulting compost is used on the roses instead of a veggie garden. Recycling rotted produce from the refrigerator to the earth is the environmentally sound thing to do. Also, if every year you top off your gardens with 4-6" of leaf mould, compost, & manure you will not need to purchase/use commercial fertilizers except for pots. You'll have less garbage that needs hauling away, the city trucks will use less gas, & you won't need to buy as many bags. Win-win. :) Sorry 'bout the compost lecture but it's something I believe most Americans can easily do & don't. /tricia

This question begs the question: If squirrels and such spoil x% of large tomatoes, what percentage of cherry tomatoes (prolific, all-season indeterminates) will they spoil? Some animals and pests just seem to take a bite and leave the rest to rot (and move on to other fruits similarly). If they did the same with cherries, they might not spoil as high of a percentage. Plus, if you have trouble picking them all, maybe the squirrels will, too. :) The great thing about cherries, though, is they're often fast. Even if you lose all the fruit at one point, you'll likely get a lot more later. For prolific, early, all-season cherries, I recommend Sweet Orange Cherry. I haven't tried it in a container, though. The plant is very vigorous. Chocolate Pear can be a good one (it's a pear-shaped cherry). I also haven't tried it in a container. One tomato that I know does well in containers (but it's not a cherry) is Sub Arctic Plenty. The fruits have very thick walls, too. You might also try Sasha's Altai. It seems to go all season. It's a high altitude tomato. It's small, but not a cherry. I also haven't tried it in a container. Early Girl F1 can be prolific (and all-season), and it's said to do very well in containers, using Miracle Gro soil. I'm not sure how any of those varieties will do in your area, but I like them.